


The King and the Princes

by klepto_maniac0



Series: Heroes All [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Banter, F/M, READ MORE AND FIND OUT, also squall is a secret pervert, can his brain and boner work at the same time, card game, how much blood IS there in seifer's body, sort of stripping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 09:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13499022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klepto_maniac0/pseuds/klepto_maniac0
Summary: There is no such thing as a friendly card game when Squall, Seifer, and Quistis are playing Triple Triad. But things can get pretty fiery.





	The King and the Princes

“No!”

 

“Yes!”

 

“No!”

 

“Yes!”

 

“No!”

 

“Yes!”

 

“NO!” Quistis shouted at Squall, nearly on the verge of rising out of her chair; Zell had his hand on her arm just in case she tried. On the other side of the table, Rinoa was doing the same thing to Squall, who was already halfway out of his chair. Meanwhile the rest of their group watched the proceedings with waning amusement. Normally Squall and Quistis got along great, but when it came to Triple Triad cards, well… It could get messy. At least they were in a private room at a restaurant where their yelling could be hidden from the public, but future holiday parties might need to be in a bunker if this kind of fight became a pattern.

 

“The maximum number of cards that can be flipped in a single turn is _eight_ , not nine,” said Quistis, gritting her teeth.

 

“It’s nine,” Squall insisted. “There are nine spaces on the board! Therefore, you can flip nine cards!”

 

“But not all at the same time!”

 

“Yes you can! You set yours down, it flips everything else—“

 

“But the action of placing a card is _quite distinct_ from flipping it—“

 

“Every card is neutral until you place it—“

 

“NO!! It’s in _your_ deck, it’s _your_ card—“

 

“It’s nobody’s until it’s on the board!”

 

“The two of you need to shut up,” said Seifer loudly from his end of the table. “You have been on this for way too long.”

 

“I’m not stopping until he admits I’m right!” Quistis shot back.

 

“And you don’t even know how to play, so _you_ shut up,” retorted Squall, which immediately made Fujin and Raijin burst out laughing. Seifer looked surprised but then morphed instantly into a smirk of sly confidence.

 

“Oh? I don’t?”

 

“No,” said Squall, ignoring how Fujin and Raijin were now wiping their eyes and still laughing.

 

“Well, I guess you won’t mind playing a hand with me then,” said Seifer, his voice turning silky with malicious glee. “Loser’s gotta shut up about cards for the rest of the evening.”

 

“You’re on,” Squall said, immediately getting out of his chair to go to Seifer’s end of the long table. Quistis chuckled. Zell looked at her, then Seifer, and then back at her again as suspicion surged in his brain.

 

“Is Seifer really that good a player?” He asked her quietly as Squall yanked his deck out of his back pocket and slammed them on the table. Rinoa sighed but went over to support him anyway, as a good girlfriend did.

 

“Let’s just say Squall’s in for a bad night,” Quistis murmured and went to the end of the table too, where everyone immediately gravitated to see the match.

 

Seifer kept smiling at Squall, all but coiled with simmering, savored amusement as Squall took his seat and glared at him. Then Seifer sat up, as confident and easy as a coeurl, and smoothly pulled a deck of cards from his coat pocket. It was a thick deck, at least as tall as Squall’s and just as well-worn. Squall frowned and looked at Seifer, the first trace of concern coming through his pugnaciousness.

 

“Quistis?” Seifer practically purred, his eyes boring into Squall’s like he was getting ready to pounce.

 

“Yes, Seifer?” Quistis murmured back, leaning against his shoulder with a warm smile.

 

“Would you be so kind as to select some rules for this game, since you don’t have any stakes in it?”

 

“Only if I get to pick rules for your match,” said Squall, though whether he was speaking to Seifer or Quistis was unclear.

 

“Fair enough,” Quistis said, already thinking about how to make this process as torturous as possible. “Open. Random. Elemental. Sudden death. Take all.”

 

“Ohhh,” Irvine groaned, his hand over his chest and wincing with a sort of delight. Though he only played girls, he nevertheless knew enough to be sympathetic and evilly delighted at this turn of events. Other people made similar noises depending on their level of Triple Triad knowledge.

 

“Did you say elemental, Quistis?” Seifer asked, unperturbed and now smiling even more unnervingly at Squall, who was starting to get his glare back.

 

“I did say elemental.”

 

“Well, we’re going to need a marked board for that,” said Seifer and reached into another of his coat pockets. A whoop went up around the table as he pulled out a well-maintained and beautifully detailed leather playing map and unfolded it with an expert flick of the wrist, flattening it on the table like it was magnetized there. Squall leaned back, apprehensive but still too stubborn to back down even as Seifer took out a bag of elemental dice, tossed the three carved stones, and set appropriate markers (etched glass, not plastic) on each pertinent square.

 

“Whatever,” Squall blustered, riffle-shuffling his deck with speed.  “You’re not going to beat me no matter how much stuff you have in your pockets.”

 

“No, I’m going to beat you because I’m better,” Seifer said, shuffling his deck with dealer-like expertise. They each fanned their cards out on the table and selected five at random for the other to play with, Seifer adding, “And I’m looking forward to taking everything you’ve got, Squally-boy.”

 

“Hey now, we’re not gonna spend all Solstice Night watching you two getting mad about cards either,” Zell warned. “ _One_ game, okay?”

 

“One game’s all I need,” said Seifer, grinning at Squall. Squall glared. They flipped their respective hands and murmurs of interest, apprehension, or amusement went around the rest of the group as everyone looked over what Squall and Seifer had. As expected, Squall’s carefully curated deck was high with face cards that would usually give him the advantage in a random draw; even in this hand, he had one face card and two rank 8’s that would likely carry him to victory. But Seifer’s hand had two face cards and one rank 9, which promised to make things difficult. Quistis frowned a bit at Seifer’s hand.

 

“I know why Squall has my face card, but why do _you_ have one?”

 

“Won it off a Trepie, duh,” said Seifer as Squall fished a coin out of his pocket and flipped, calling heads in the air. It landed heads and he placed his card first, taking up one of the valuable corner pieces to put two strong faces forward. “Don’t get weird about it.”

 

(Actually Seifer had carefully spent most of an afternoon patiently and skillfully wearing down that particular Trepie with calculated wins and losses until he’d finally managed to get the damn thing; it was a rare first edition that had been painted right after she’d made SeeD, and there were only something like 200 in the entire world. And Seifer had four of them.)

 

They played, moving almost too fast for other people to discuss their moves, and it was with great shock (almost) all around that Squall lost when Seifer turned not one, but two cards with his final play. Squall scowled as Seifer chuckled and swept the board clean of markers and cards, sorting both into their prospective piles.

 

“And you fell right into my elemental trap, just like I knew you would.”

 

“Shut up.” He jerked his head at Quistis, his ire now transferred to Seifer. “You have to play _her_ now, and she’s way tougher than I am.”

 

“I don’t know about that,” said Seifer cheerfully, which made Quistis look at him archly and Selphie emit a soft “oooh” of intrigue.

 

“I taught you how to play.”

 

“Yeah, and I kicked your butt in the first couple minutes. How many years had you been playing at that point?”

 

“And how many times have you won against me _since_ those first couple of minutes, hmm?” Quistis came around to take Squall’s chair as the brunet got up, and she pulled her own deck out of her belt pocket as she said, “Oh, that’s right; you haven’t dared to play me in years.”

 

“Well maybe I don’t think you’re a challenge.”

 

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you. Squall? The rules, please.”

 

Squall folded his arms, thinking for a second. Only Rinoa saw the little smirk on his lips before he solemnly pronounced, “Random. Plus-Combo. Sudden death. Take all. Strip.”

 

“Strip?” Quistis repeated, looking at him incredulously. Seifer said the same thing, looking stunned. Everyone else’s reactions ranged from shock to embarrassment to unbridled hilarity.

 

“How many games do you want them to play?” Selphie asked Squall incredulously.

 

“Not per game, per card,” said Squall, looking pointedly at Seifer. “Every time someone loses a card, they lose an article of clothing.”

 

“Wait, how…?” Zell started counting on his fingers, making little pointed gestures as he tried matching up numbers of garments on both Quistis and Seifer, but Squall beat him to it.

 

“They both have eight, which is one less than they need if they flip the whole board—“

 

“I’m so glad Seifer has your cards, since apparently you don’t count them,” Quistis grumbled, which Squall ignored.

 

“Coat, pants, shirt, sock-sock-shoe-shoe, underwear,” said Squall, pointing at Seifer. Oblivious to Selphie suddenly giggling and mouthing the words ’sock-sock-shoe-shoe’ at a now snickering Zell, Squall then pointed at Quistis and said, “Skirt, shirt, boot-boot-sock-sock, bra, and panties. They’re even.”

 

“That had better be a _suggested_ order of removal,” Quistis huffed, folding her arms.

 

“You two don’t have to do this,” said Rinoa to Seifer and Quistis as she put her hand on Squall’s shoulder and squeezed. Hard. ”Seriously, it’s just a game—“

 

“Pssh, I’ve seen plenty of naked women,” boasted Seifer, folding his arms across his chest. Looking pointedly at Quistis, he taunted, “One more ain’t gonna rattle me.”

 

Quistis smiled thinly. “Meanwhile, naked men are always hilarious."

 

“Wait, so if they win a card back, do they put their clothes back on?” Irvine asked Squall, amused.

 

“No.”

 

“Somebody’s getting naaaked,” Raijin sang softly, which was enough to set Selphie and Zell into giggles again.

 

“STUPID,” said Fujin, shaking her head.

 

“I agree,” said Rinoa, nodding firmly. “This is—”

 

“Fine,” said Quistis, which made Rinoa gasp in horror. Straightening her glasses, Quistis said to Seifer, “Just so you know, I’m going to ‘take all’ your clothes too. Maybe I’ll let you have your pants back to leave the restaurant.”

 

“How nice! I was gonna lend you my coat.”

 

“Play,” said Squall sternly, making Seifer chuckle as he reset the elemental qualities of the board. Quistis took out her deck, which was smaller than the men’s had been, but Seifer eyed it warily and then frowned.

 

“Turn out your belt.”

 

“No,” said Quistis with a little smirk. “This is the deck I’m using.”

 

“Yeah? Outta how many you got stashed in that thing?” Seifer pointed at her wide hip belt, saying, “No way you travel _only_ with high-value cards. You picked that deck on purpose after Squall announced the rules, which means it’s face-heavy for random rule optimizing. Get your whole deck out or I’m not playing.”

 

“Okay, fine,” Quistis sighed, standing up. Eyes widened all around the table (except for Seifer, who just nodded in vindication) as Quistis pulled no less than five more slim decks out of her belt from various locations and stacked them all together, ending up with a deck that was at least a third larger than both Squall’s and Seifer’s. Shuffling expertly, Quistis said to Seifer, “Not that it’ll make a difference. I _have_ been playing for a rather long time, Seifer, and I’ve had plenty of time to refine my deck into exactly what I want. What makes you think you have any kind of chance?”

 

“Because I know your style.”

 

Her brows rose. “You’ve studied my gameplay?”

 

“Yeah. I like to see how far I’ve come.”

 

Quistis laughed incredulously and fanned her cards, Seifer smirking as he did the same. They picked five for each other with a good deal more deliberation, almost to the point of making their audience impatient except they trash-talked and glared at each other the entire time. Thus was everyone distracted from Quistis slyly slipping her foot up Seifer’s leg as she picked card after card. He gently kicked her back, his grin becoming just a subtle hair more heated than hostile. Squall had surely chosen the Strip rule to embarrass them, but had no idea how badly it was going to backfire.

 

“Alright,” said Squall, flipping the coin again. “Call it in the air.”

 

“Heads,” said Seifer with a grin. He kept grinning even as he had to play the first card, and Irvine whistled when Seifer selected one of his cards and put it deliberately in the middle of the board. Quistis looked at him suspiciously; the card was strong, but the placement certainly was not.

 

“Hmph,” was all she said, however, and placed one of hers alongside his. There was a little ‘aww’ of disappointment as Seifer’s card did not flip, though the second one he laid down did turn over with Quistis’s next play. Despite his loss Seifer shrugged free of his heavy coat without hesitation, laying it over the back of his chair before sitting down. Despite her win Quistis scowled at him, the lower half of her face hidden behind her laced fingers.

 

“Aww, don’t be so sad,” said Seifer, setting down his next card and immediately retaking the one he’d just lost. “You knew this was coming.”

 

“Mmhmm,” said Quistis, still sounding displeased. She pushed her chair away from the table, leaning down to unzip one of her boots as Seifer tsked in disappointment, but then paused. And straightened up. Smiling with a sudden secret amusement, Quistis reached behind her back and up her shirt.

 

“What are you doing?” Seifer asked, but didn’t even get to finish the last word as Quistis’s breasts subtly dropped. Immediately he stared, his focus scattering, and swallowed as Quistis pulled first one bra strap and then the other down her shoulders, clearly removing it without taking off her shirt. Fujin and Raijin started laughing uproariously, which was almost enough to cover Rinoa’s gasp of horror and Selphie’s shrill of scream of surprise. All expression dropped off Squall’s face. Zell looked aghast. Irvine whooped and laughed, pointing immediately at Seifer.

 

“Holy shit, you’re actually turning red!” He guffawed as Quistis reached down the front of her zipped-up shirt and pulled her bra out from her neckline, smiling triumphantly at Seifer the entire time she did it. It was a rosy pink satin-something, bare of lace or other elaborations, but at this moment the sexiest thing Seifer had ever seen Quistis ever take off.

 

“Shut up,” said Seifer, immediately turning his focus to the board. It was somewhat more difficult now that Quistis had resumed drawing her toe up his leg, making him wish they were alone to make the game even more interesting. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to curse or laugh when Quistis put a deliberately weak card down in a vulnerable position on the board, making him sweat as he realized what his options were.

 

“You’re gonna lose the fucking game, woman,” he told her harshly, trying to use hostility to cover his delight at the idea.

 

“Would you _really_ do that to me, Seifer?” Quistis asked, lounging against the table. The lack of structure under her formfitting top was devilishly distracting, as well as the soft points of her nipples pushing gently against the ribbed fabric. Seifer put his head in his hands, ostensibly to concentrate on the board.

 

“You’re supposed to be playing Triple Triad, not me.”

 

“Whatever you say. It’s still your move.”

 

Seifer growled and placed one of his stronger cards in the corner, which left two blank spaces by Quistis’s weak card; his values weren’t high enough to turn hers at that angle. Too late Seifer realized his error as Quistis set one of her cards down on one of the elemental boosters he’d left open, and he gaped as that single placement flipped three cards at once.

 

“Fuck!” Seifer bellowed, making the entire room laugh. Furious he’d been so easily tricked, Seifer wrenched off his shoes and one sock and hurled them on the floor, the fire burning of competition burning away his nobler impulses. How dare she play such a dirty trick on him? But the game wasn’t over yet, no it was not. Because while there was still only one space on the board, one of his best cards had happened to get into his deck. Seifer immediately slapped it down, making Quistis stare and then gasp in horror as cards began flipping like changing titles on a train station’s boards, immediately transforming her former victory into a tie. But that wasn’t the real reason she had gasped.

 

“You have a Traitor Rinoa?”

 

“Hey,” Rinoa objected at once, hurt.

 

“It’s opposite your normal values, that’s all,” said Seifer dismissively to Rinoa as Squall rubbed his girlfriend’s back. To Quistis Seifer said, “Yeah, snatched one up right after she got exiled. Let me guess, you’ve never seen one in person before?”

 

“Hmph, don’t get so cocky,” Quistis sniffed as they took their respective colored cards and reset the board for the second half of the sudden death match. “I’ve got a few tricks and treats of my own.”

 

Seifer eyed the last card in Quistis’s hand, the one she hadn’t yet put down. It had to be a doozy, but what it might be, he had no clue. There were nearly endless variations on Triple Triad cards these days, and while Quistis hadn’t shown anything more than the old standards, the way she’d used them had been masterful indeed. Clearly he’d need to be more on his guard.

 

Nevertheless, Quistis had lost four cards. Seifer held his breath as Quistis took off her shoes, no slower than usual but with a deliberation that severely conflicted his competitive and sexy-times circuits because _she leaned down_ to do it. And while Seifer couldn’t see anything, just knowing what was missing was enough to make him start sweating. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he needed to focus. Especially when Quistis then removed her socks, which were over-the-knee and required her to pull up her skirt to reach the tops of them; when she didn’t bother pulling her skirt back down again, Seifer knew _exactly_ what her next move was going to be. Damn it all if she hadn’t baited her trap sweetly indeed, because now she was only three cards away from total nudity and no doubt banking on the fact that he wanted to make that happen as much as possible, which meant she was going to be lying in wait all over the goddamn board. Fuck. FUUUCK.

 

His one saving grace was that Quistis would have to lay down a card first. So Seifer waited on tenterhooks, practically gnawing his knuckles about what she was going to do next. Quistis studied the board for what seemed like forever before finally putting down a card in the center, the goddamn provocative minx. It was the weak card again. Seifer glared at her furiously.

 

“Play like a normal person!”

 

“No,” she said, smirking.

 

“Never pegged you as an exhibitionist, you know.”

 

She never stopped smiling. “Whatever you say, Seifer. It’s still your play… If you’re able to play, that is.”

 

“Shut up,” he growled, slapping his strongest card down onto the board and flipping hers at once. He was _not_ going to get sandbagged by this. But despite the loss, Quistis just smiled. And stood up. And then deliberately, she ran her hands up the sides of her legs, up her skirt, and began to pull down.

 

“Nooo,” Selphie squealed, turning bright red in mortification. Rinoa clapped her hands over her mouth while Zell slapped his hands over his face. Squall turned red, and then noticing Irvine’s lascivious look, immediately pulled Irvine’s hat down over the taller man’s eyes. Raijin started laughing, impressed at her bravado, but Fujin scowled, picked up her so-far neglected glass of wine, and drank it steadily. Apparently things had gone too far for her tastes. 

 

“Don’t you fucking _dare_ ,” Seifer swore, his eyes nevertheless riveted as Quistis kept pulling down. And down. And yup, suddenly there they were, the matching pair of rose silk panties to the bra that was now resting on the table. Quistis stepped gracefully out of her underwear, folded it neatly, and tucked it into one of her belt pockets. Oh god. Oh god. Seifer gulped hard as a terribly vivid and terribly enticing vision of Quistis wearing _just_ that belt and her glasses suddenly blazed before his eyes, frying nearly every other thought in his brain. She was only two clothing items away from that reality.

 

But. BUT.  _BUT_ if he made that reality come true right now in front of everyone else, it would be a total disaster. Aside from the fact he would be forever be tarred as a biggest pervert in their group, Quistis would be pissed that he’d actually strip her naked in front of all their friends because of a goddamn card game. Which meant that in order to get out of this with any honor intact, he needed to lose. The conclusion made Seifer rage, but in a futile kind of way that he dismissed as soon as it started. A card game was not worth the potential fallout. But how to lose? Seifer eyed Quistis’s mystery card, now really hoping it was something amazing. Something legendary. Something absolutely unbeatable. Seifer hoped against hope, the damned emotion rising in his chest as Quistis drew it and set it down next to her center card, flipping both it and Seifer’s at the same time.

 

“Where the fuck did you get an Ultimecia card?” Seifer asked, his voice hollowing with awe. 

 

“The Card Painter likes me a lot,” said Quistis with a little smile. “And he was inspired by some things I told him, so there.”

 

“Is it even legal to have two Aces on a single card?” Zell asked, peeking through his fingers at the board.

 

“It’s a special edition holo-back,” said Quistis, lifting the card and turning it a little so the background sparkled, giving Ultimecia’s fearsome painted face an added dimension of glamour. “One of several I have, actually. Now what else do you have, Seifer?”

 

“Fuck you,” said Seifer, though he was nearly giddy with relief as he pulled off his remaining sock and his shirt. Now they were in the same boat, which Seifer felt a great deal better about. Beating Quistis soundly in front of all their friends and taking all her clothes was the action of a brute, but neck-and-neck competition was practically expected. Plus he saw the gleam in Quistis’s eyes when he sat back down bare-chested. He certainly didn’t want to expose her, but did she want to strip him? Yes… But not in public. He knew her that well.

 

_“Heh. Maybe she’ll throw the game too. Let’s see if I can get her to do it.”_

 

The next cards laid on the board were set down in silence and amidst held breath among everyone watching. Very careful placement of said cards made it so Quistis and Seifer both neutrally captured territory, yet with the number of diminishing spaces and the unpredictability of the Combo rule, nudity was more a certainty than a funny possibility. When there were only two spaces left and it was Seifer’s turn, he and everybody else stared at the board in horrified admiration.

 

He currently had two cards in his hand. There were two empty spaces on the board. Regardless of which card Seifer used, one spot would result in his loss (and losing one more piece of clothing). The other would completely turn the board in his favor, which meant Quistis would take off all her clothes. And from the little smile on Quistis’s face, this questionably winning was _exactly_ the outcome she’d wanted.

 

“Well?” She asked sweetly after a near thirty seconds of silence had gone by.

 

“Oh, like this is any goddamn choice,” Seifer huffed with ‘bad grace’ and threw himself back in his chair, scowling like he was actually mad. “I forfeit the match.”

 

Quistis smiled. “I’ll take that.”

 

“Well played!” Irvine enthused, making Quistis tilt her head prettily at him. “Like a goddamn virtuoso. A whole damn orchestra.”

 

“Guess we all know how far Quisty’ll go to win a match,” Selphie giggled to Rinoa, who laughed back.

 

“Long live the King,” said Squall solemnly, which ironically broke the tension enough that everyone laughed and relaxed.

 

Later both Seifer and Quistis ‘forgot’ things at the restaurant and had to go back for them, though since this news was delivered to different clusters of people, nobody realized they’d stayed back and much less together. But Quistis and Seifer did not go back to the restaurant. They instead went to a hotel, rented a comfortable room under an assumed name, and… Played cards.

 

“Of course you’d play like a normal person now,” Seifer groused as he stared at the board.

 

“Well now we’re playing with normal rules,” Quistis said, chuckling.

 

“Well what if I want to play Strip-Triad again?”

 

“We could, but it’s kind of boring, honestly.”

 

Seifer’s brows rose. “What?”

 

Quistis blushed. “I do like seeing you naked, but when I’m playing, it’s all about the game. Everything else is pushed off to the side.”

 

He stared at her incredulously. “So all that did _nothing_ for you?”

 

Quistis’s blush deepened. “I wouldn’t say that. Seeing you play Squall and win all his cards was definitely one of the most attractive things you’ve ever done.”

 

“Really?” Seifer asked skeptically.

 

“Yes.”

 

“More or less attractive than sparring?”

 

“More.”

 

“Alright, why?”

 

Quistis brushed her hair over her ear. “How many people would you say know you can play cards?”

 

“I dunno. A few. Why?”

 

“And how many of them know that you’re good? Really good?”

 

“Just the ones I beat,” he said with a bit of a smirk. Then his brow creased with incredulous amusement. “You get turned on by secrets, don’t you?”

 

“I like knowing intimate details about you,” said Quistis as she set another card down on the board. “Is that so wrong?”

 

“Well no, but it’s _cards_. It’s hardly sexy.”

 

“Playing against you lets me learn things about you that you’d never tell me otherwise, because you’ve never thought about them.”

 

“ _Please_ don’t say you’re into that fortune-telling BS.”

 

Quistis looked ever-so-slightly offended at that but instead said, “Your choice of deck and your gameplay say a lot about you. And I like what I see. That’s all you need to know.”

 

Seifer wasn’t sure he was satisfied with that answer, but then had to think about what he actually wanted to hear. So after completing the match (Quistis’s victory, unsurprisingly), Seifer asked, “Is there anything I could do that would turn you on enough to throw a match?”

 

Quistis blinked, but considered the question seriously. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But that’s only because nothing’s ever distracted me from a match. When I used to play in the Training Center with the CC, one of the matches was interrupted by a T-Rexaur that I only noticed because its footsteps shook the cards out of place. It was nearly on top of me too.”

 

Seifer blinked, both impressed and concerned. That was getting too much into a damn game. At least her focus didn’t have to do with him or what he might be lacking. On the other hand, it would be pretty sweet to be the first one to make her lose her focus.

 

“What are you thinking about?” Quistis asked as Seifer started to smile.

 

“Let’s play another round. Kiss-Triad.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Sorry, but everybody’s tried on me since the age of 10 and it’s never worked.”

 

“Well, did you ever want to kiss ‘em back?”

 

“No…” Quistis eyed him then, a little smile finally touching her lips. “I suppose I could give it another try, then. Per match or per card?”

 

“Per card, winner kisses the loser. The more cards, the more serious the kiss.”

 

Quistis looked at him knowingly, but not exactly displeased. “And not just restricted to the mouth, I take it?”

 

Seifer smirked. “Why don’t we play and find out?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. That IS the end. 
> 
> MUAHAHAHAHA
> 
> -
> 
> Originally this had alcohol involved, but then Aurenare reminded me that in-game, Squall will literally stop in the middle of missions to play cards (if you make him, that is). And Quistis broke into his room in the middle of the night to challenge him as the King. *They absolutely do not need to be drunk to be this much into cards*, it's practically canon that they take this way too seriously.
> 
> As for Seifer knowing how to play, that's mostly in response to me thinking that I haven't seen many fics where he does know how to play and play well. So HOHOHOHO here we go.


End file.
